Juniperus flaccida is a large shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

 or small tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

 reaching 5-10 m (rarely to 15 m) tall. It is native to central and northern Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 (from Oaxaca

Oaxaca

Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...

 northward) and the extreme southwest of Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 (Brewster County

Brewster County, Texas

Brewster County is a county located in western part of the US state of Texas, along the border with Mexico. It is one of the nine counties that comprise the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas. As of the 2000 census, the population is 8,866. In 2009, the population was estimated to be 9,481. Its...

). It grows at moderate altitudes of 800-2,600 m, on dry soils.

The bark

Bark

Bark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner...

 is brown, with stringy vertical fissuring. The shoots are strongly pendulous, 1-1.2 mm diameter, and often borne in flattened sprays (the only juniper

Juniper

Junipers are coniferous plants in the genus Juniperus of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on taxonomic viewpoint, there are between 50-67 species of juniper, widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic, south to tropical Africa in the Old World, and to the...

 commonly showing this character). The leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

 are arranged in opposite decussate pairs; the adult leaves are scale-like, 2-4 mm long (to 7 mm on lead shoots) and 1-1.5 mm broad. The juvenile leaves (on young seedlings only) are needle-like, 5-10 mm long. The cones

Conifer cone

A cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the reproductive structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds. The male cones, which produce pollen, are usually herbaceous and much less conspicuous even at full maturity...

 are berry-like, 8-20 mm in diameter, green maturing brown, and contain 6-12 seed

Seed

A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...

s (the most seeds per cone of any juniper); they are mature in about 18 months. The male cones are 3-5 mm long, and shed their pollen in spring. It is largely dioecious

Plant sexuality

Plant sexuality covers the wide variety of sexual reproduction systems found across the plant kingdom. This article describes morphological aspects of sexual reproduction of plants....

, producing cones of only one sex on each tree.

There are three varieties

Variety (biology)

In botanical nomenclature, variety is a taxonomic rank below that of species: as such, it gets a three-part infraspecific name....

, not accepted as distinct by all authorities:

• Juniperus flaccida var. flaccida. Throughout the range of the species. Cones 9-15 mm diameter, with inconspicuous scale margins.
• Juniperus flaccida var. martinezii. Restricted to a small area in Jalisco
  Jalisco
  Jalisco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in Western Mexico and divided in 125 municipalities and its capital city is Guadalajara.It is one of the more important states...
  
  . Cones 6-8 mm diameter, with inconspicuous scale margins.
• Juniperus flaccida var. poblana. Throughout the southern two thirds of the range of the species. Cones 12-20 mm diameter, with conspicuous scale margins.